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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 166, NO. 19 | Tuesday February 10, 2009
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
11 · Sudoku
12 · Classifieds
16 · Sports
Rock on: Spirit of Troy
performs with Radiohead at
the Grammys. PAGE 5
Undefeated: Take a look at the
USC men’s water polo team’s
historic season. PAGE 16
Lee Draper, president of Draper Consulting Group, Joe Blackstone, president of Blackstone Consulting Group, and Michael Fox,
managing principal and market leader for Towers Perrin meet with students at the Los Angeles Community Impact Consulting
Panel. Students listened to a panel discussion focused on consulting, then networked with the industry professionals.
Professional impressions Amaresh Sundaram Kuppuswamy | Daily Trojan
By Holly Villamagna
Daily Trojan
Many USC students cut calories to lose weight, but
researchers and nutritionists agree that this practice
might do more harm than good.
A new study by researchers at USC, led by pharmacy
professor Raj Sohal, has found that caloric restriction
negatively impacts the health of normal-sized mice,
which could have implications for humans who count
calories.
“It has been widely assumed that food restriction
extends the lifespan of various strains of rats and
mice,” said Sohal, a professor at the School of Pharmacy
and the study’s primary investigator.
The study, published online Jan. 13 in the Journal of
Nutrition, compared the effects of food restriction on
two strains of mice — one with a lower metabolic rate
and one with a higher rate.
The strain of mice that had a lower metabolic
rate was more likely to become overweight, as mice
within this strain tended to continue gaining weight
throughout their lives, even after becoming full-grown.
Sohal said because of this observation, the strain
with a lower metabolic rate could benefit from food
restriction.
“The basic difference between the two is energy bal-ance,”
Sohal said. “The [mice with the lower metabolic
rates] eat more than what they burn, so they gain
weight. It would predict that caloric restriction would
help humans who are overweight.”
However, that doesn’t mean overweight humans
should start cutting calories, said Patrice Barber, a
Study indicates
cutting calories
bad for health
Despite popular beliefs about calories, researchers
at USC say restriction is harmful to the body.
| see diet, page 6 |
By Shweta saraswat
Daily Trojan
Expanding the hours of the
University Park Health Center, cre-ating
a paper ticket option for sport-ing
events and getting the USCard
accepted at local businesses are
among the issues Undergraduate
Student Government presidential
and vice presidential candidates
Holden Slusher and Ashlie Chan
hope to push if elected.
A junior majoring in business,
22-year-old Slusher is currently serv-ing
as one of the two USG Greek sen-ators,
while 19-year-old Chan serves
as one of six residential senators.
Both were elected to their present
positions in spring of 2008.
“We’ve worked together for about
one and a half years,” said Slusher,
who described his and Chan’s com-bined
experience within USG and
campus affairs as providing “a great
balance in legislative and advocacy
experience.”
“They are both very different
but share the same values,”
said co-campaign manager Zoe
Weintraub, a freshman majoring in
international relations. “I think that
really embodies our university.”
Among their on-campus plat-form
goals, Slusher and Chan said
they want to have the health center
open longer on weekends.
“We had heard of a girl who fell
and was slightly injured over the
weekend ... and the health center was
closed,” Slusher said. “For a minor
issue she had to go near Downtown
... and it took four hours for her to
get basic treatment.”
Increasing the hours of the health
center will require extra money, for
which Slusher and Chan are willing
to allocate USG funds.
“We may have to entice the uni-versity
[to pay for the extra hours]
by fronting some money ourselves,”
Chan said, explaining that such a
USG candidates Slusher and Chan present platform
If elected, the candidates plan
to get students more involved
in USG’s work around campus.
| see USG, page 6 |
Gina Armstrong | Daily Trojan
Election · Senators Holden Slusher and Ashlie Chan comprise one of
the three presidential tickets running in the upcoming USG elections.
By jessica poitevien
Daily Trojan
In its first few months of opera-tion,
TaskUs, a business cofounded
by recent USC graduate Jaspar
Weir, is growing rapidly by offering
individuals and small businesses
the opportunity to take advantage
of the low prices that outsourcing
can offer.
TaskUs, which is designed to
act as a virtual personal assistant,
has already gathered a clientele of
more than 65 people since it began
in November 2008 and can take on
a wide variety of assignments from
proof-reading websites to event-planning.
The online business works
by taking the requests of its
customers, finding the best and
cheapest domestic or foreign ser-vice
providers to complete the
task, and assigning an adminis-trator
to manage each project and
Alum finds
success in
outsourcing
Annenberg grad Jaspar Weir’s
online company has seen
success since its Jan. launch.
| see Web, page 6 |
H USG ELECTIONS 2009 G
Wednesday
A profile of presidential
candidate Alex Perliter and his
running mate, Gregory Shin.
Thursday
A profile of presidential
candidate Owen Caine and his
running mate, Maya Babla.
Friday
A graphic on the candidates
running for residential, Greek
and commuter senators.
Wednesday, Jan. 18
A recap of President Jens
Midthun and Vice President
Tony Jercinovich’s tenure
and their final plans.
Check out the Daily
Trojan’s continuing
coverage of the 2009
Undergraduate Student
Government elections.

Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 166, NO. 19 | Tuesday February 10, 2009
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
11 · Sudoku
12 · Classifieds
16 · Sports
Rock on: Spirit of Troy
performs with Radiohead at
the Grammys. PAGE 5
Undefeated: Take a look at the
USC men’s water polo team’s
historic season. PAGE 16
Lee Draper, president of Draper Consulting Group, Joe Blackstone, president of Blackstone Consulting Group, and Michael Fox,
managing principal and market leader for Towers Perrin meet with students at the Los Angeles Community Impact Consulting
Panel. Students listened to a panel discussion focused on consulting, then networked with the industry professionals.
Professional impressions Amaresh Sundaram Kuppuswamy | Daily Trojan
By Holly Villamagna
Daily Trojan
Many USC students cut calories to lose weight, but
researchers and nutritionists agree that this practice
might do more harm than good.
A new study by researchers at USC, led by pharmacy
professor Raj Sohal, has found that caloric restriction
negatively impacts the health of normal-sized mice,
which could have implications for humans who count
calories.
“It has been widely assumed that food restriction
extends the lifespan of various strains of rats and
mice,” said Sohal, a professor at the School of Pharmacy
and the study’s primary investigator.
The study, published online Jan. 13 in the Journal of
Nutrition, compared the effects of food restriction on
two strains of mice — one with a lower metabolic rate
and one with a higher rate.
The strain of mice that had a lower metabolic
rate was more likely to become overweight, as mice
within this strain tended to continue gaining weight
throughout their lives, even after becoming full-grown.
Sohal said because of this observation, the strain
with a lower metabolic rate could benefit from food
restriction.
“The basic difference between the two is energy bal-ance,”
Sohal said. “The [mice with the lower metabolic
rates] eat more than what they burn, so they gain
weight. It would predict that caloric restriction would
help humans who are overweight.”
However, that doesn’t mean overweight humans
should start cutting calories, said Patrice Barber, a
Study indicates
cutting calories
bad for health
Despite popular beliefs about calories, researchers
at USC say restriction is harmful to the body.
| see diet, page 6 |
By Shweta saraswat
Daily Trojan
Expanding the hours of the
University Park Health Center, cre-ating
a paper ticket option for sport-ing
events and getting the USCard
accepted at local businesses are
among the issues Undergraduate
Student Government presidential
and vice presidential candidates
Holden Slusher and Ashlie Chan
hope to push if elected.
A junior majoring in business,
22-year-old Slusher is currently serv-ing
as one of the two USG Greek sen-ators,
while 19-year-old Chan serves
as one of six residential senators.
Both were elected to their present
positions in spring of 2008.
“We’ve worked together for about
one and a half years,” said Slusher,
who described his and Chan’s com-bined
experience within USG and
campus affairs as providing “a great
balance in legislative and advocacy
experience.”
“They are both very different
but share the same values,”
said co-campaign manager Zoe
Weintraub, a freshman majoring in
international relations. “I think that
really embodies our university.”
Among their on-campus plat-form
goals, Slusher and Chan said
they want to have the health center
open longer on weekends.
“We had heard of a girl who fell
and was slightly injured over the
weekend ... and the health center was
closed,” Slusher said. “For a minor
issue she had to go near Downtown
... and it took four hours for her to
get basic treatment.”
Increasing the hours of the health
center will require extra money, for
which Slusher and Chan are willing
to allocate USG funds.
“We may have to entice the uni-versity
[to pay for the extra hours]
by fronting some money ourselves,”
Chan said, explaining that such a
USG candidates Slusher and Chan present platform
If elected, the candidates plan
to get students more involved
in USG’s work around campus.
| see USG, page 6 |
Gina Armstrong | Daily Trojan
Election · Senators Holden Slusher and Ashlie Chan comprise one of
the three presidential tickets running in the upcoming USG elections.
By jessica poitevien
Daily Trojan
In its first few months of opera-tion,
TaskUs, a business cofounded
by recent USC graduate Jaspar
Weir, is growing rapidly by offering
individuals and small businesses
the opportunity to take advantage
of the low prices that outsourcing
can offer.
TaskUs, which is designed to
act as a virtual personal assistant,
has already gathered a clientele of
more than 65 people since it began
in November 2008 and can take on
a wide variety of assignments from
proof-reading websites to event-planning.
The online business works
by taking the requests of its
customers, finding the best and
cheapest domestic or foreign ser-vice
providers to complete the
task, and assigning an adminis-trator
to manage each project and
Alum finds
success in
outsourcing
Annenberg grad Jaspar Weir’s
online company has seen
success since its Jan. launch.
| see Web, page 6 |
H USG ELECTIONS 2009 G
Wednesday
A profile of presidential
candidate Alex Perliter and his
running mate, Gregory Shin.
Thursday
A profile of presidential
candidate Owen Caine and his
running mate, Maya Babla.
Friday
A graphic on the candidates
running for residential, Greek
and commuter senators.
Wednesday, Jan. 18
A recap of President Jens
Midthun and Vice President
Tony Jercinovich’s tenure
and their final plans.
Check out the Daily
Trojan’s continuing
coverage of the 2009
Undergraduate Student
Government elections.